Ryan and Lila didn't stay long in the common room, leaving after about half an hour. They didn't even attend the Hogwarts Christmas feast.
"We're meeting Pomona at the Three Broomsticks," Lila said with an eager gleam in her eyes. "I can hardly wait... Madam Rosmerta's specially brewed pumpkin flower mead."
Seeing the way she spoke and how quickly she walked out of the Gryffindor common room, Robert couldn't help but reflect on something she had just said:
"…to visit a friend, and to see you by the way."
Robert suspected that this might actually be the unvarnished truth.
After Ryan and Lila left, Robert headed to the Great Hall with the others.
"Your parents are really something," Fred said, walking up to Robert. "How did they get in?"
"Probably through Professor Sprout," Robert replied.
He didn't find it surprising that they knew the Head of Hufflepuff. There weren't many wizards in England who studied magical plants, and even fewer who had published scholarly articles. With such a small group, they were bound to know each other.
Fred, however, looked a bit let down upon hearing this.
He had imagined they'd entered through one of the secret passages from Hogsmeade. Parents breaking the rules and sneaking into the castle? That sounded just like something he and George would do. After all, they had a magical map that clearly showed several hidden tunnels between Hogsmeade and Hogwarts.
So when they saw the two adult wizards earlier in the common room, Fred and George had even speculated if they might be Padfoot, Prongs, Moony, or Wormtail—the creators of the map. They'd spent a good chunk of time trying to assign the nicknames to the pair.
But as it turned out, Ryan and Lila were the rule-following type who had come in properly through the front entrance.
What a letdown.
Well, at least their air-dried bubble bean pods were still pretty cool.
The group walked into the Great Hall together and were immediately surrounded by the delicious aroma of roast chicken. Even though only a few students had stayed at school for the holidays, the tables were piled high with delectable food—roast meats, fried potatoes, and small, flavorful sausages that formed miniature mountains.
Every few steps along the table, there were massive heaps of Wizard Crackers. These often contained amusing trinkets, and with a bit of luck, one might even score the latest model of a flying broomstick.
Of course, that was more myth than reality—no one had ever actually found one.
Robert casually opened a few crackers. He got a quill that never ran out of ink, a shiny brooch, a pack of sparkling balloons, three biting teacups, and… a dried pufferfish?
Robert stared at the odd item, puzzled. A snack for cats?
He tapped the dried fish against the table. It made a sharp clunking noise, reminiscent of Hagrid's infamous rock cakes.
Still, it wasn't completely useless. At the very least, he could throw it at someone and give them a pretty big bump on the head.
The Christmas feast began, and all students, regardless of house, sat together at one long table. Robert wasn't especially fond of traditional holiday fare like roast turkey, but he enjoyed the roast beef sandwiches and plum pudding.
Later in the afternoon, Fred suggested they go outside and have a snowball fight. Harry and Ron eagerly agreed.
Percy, ever the eldest and most serious, dismissed the idea as childish and initially refused. But the twins half-dragged him out of the castle, and he eventually gave in—grudgingly.
Robert saw Hagrid and a few professors heading out toward the school gates. He paused, thought for a moment, then decided to join his classmates.
The group played in the snow all afternoon.
No one used magic.
It was a blast, though by the time they raced back to the common room, they were all breathless, their robes soaked through. They gathered around the fireplace, shivering and laughing.
"Wait, where's Robert?" Harry asked, glancing around while setting up a game of Wizard Chess with Ron.
"I don't know," Fred said, looking around as well.
"Was he even here this afternoon?"
"Yes!" Ron replied confidently, rubbing his shoulder. "I clearly remember—he threw a snowball that had a stone in it!"
Ron might have been the only one who got hurt during the snowball fight. That one rogue snowball nearly split his head open. Luckily, he'd slipped just as it flew toward him, and it only hit his shoulder.
"Robert definitely didn't do it on purpose," Harry said, his tone quiet but firm.
"How do you know?" Fred asked.
"Because I made that snowball," Harry admitted, looking sheepish. "You didn't say anything, so I thought you were okay. I didn't realize there was a stone in it."
Ron stared at him for a moment, then let out a soft sigh. "Never mind. It's fine."
"If you're talking about that first-year student," Percy chimed in from nearby, "he went to see the gamekeeper."
"You know?" Fred asked.
"I saw him," Percy said. "About an hour ago, just after the Professors got back from Hogsmeade. I saw him speaking with the gamekeeper, and then they left together."
"The gamekeeper… that's Hagrid," Harry said.
"That's right—Rubeus Hagrid," Percy confirmed with a nod.
"Weird. What would he want with Hagrid?" Fred mused.
"What else could it be? Wandmaking," Ron said knowingly. "He's obsessed with it."
"But it's Christmas," Fred pointed out, puzzled. "Wouldn't anyone want to just enjoy the holiday?"
"Not Robert," Ron insisted. "He's completely fixated on wandmaking. Doesn't even rest on weekends or holidays. I rarely see him outside the dormitory."
Fred and George exchanged glances.
Did wandmaking really take that much dedication?
They thought back to the book they had recently borrowed from the library—A Guide to Wandmaking and Usage—and for some reason, they suddenly lost interest in reading it.
…
To be fair, Ron had guessed right this time.
Robert was indeed working on a wand, but he didn't consider it work at all.
Inside the wooden hut near the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid sat beside the fireplace, sipping hot tea, watching Robert carefully handling what looked like a thick white "hemp rope."
Hagrid pressed his lips together. Every time he saw this process, it left him utterly astonished.
Just a month ago, that "rope" had been a two-foot-long Troll spine, as thick as a bowl.
Over the past month, he'd watched with his own eyes as Robert transformed it into what it was now.
How did he do it?
Hagrid had asked this question more than once. Robert never tried to keep it secret; he explained that this was a critical step in creating a wand core, something called the Core Fusion Charm.
But even after witnessing it firsthand, Hagrid couldn't wrap his head around it.
He'd always assumed wandmaking was simply about inserting unicorn hair or phoenix feathers into a carved wooden stick.
Robert's process defied everything he thought he knew.
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